I am in the process of setting my van up for a larger engine and i have just mounted my oil cooler. I thought i would post it up as there isnt an awful lot of visual help on the forums about mounting coolers and 'scoops'. Hopefully this should help others when they come to fit theirs.

I have the added difficulty of having under belly pans due to the double doors. Therefore restricting the room to fit one. I also run the bus as low as i dare so cant get away with hanging it too low :S

So here we go...

This is the area i have to play with. In between the torsion tubes and the first chassis rail.


I am using an Empi 72 row oil cooler with fan. I have 3 'U' clamps that mount one plate to the torsion tube and a simple right angled bracket mounting it too the chassis. Then there is a scoop that should aid a bit of extra air flow at speed.

Here is the cooler and brackets off the van...





here is the brackets when fitted...



and with the cooler...


and scoop...



Im hoping the scoop isnt too low as i may end up hitting it... i took it out yesterday with the brackets and no cooler just to see if it hit anything... no problems... but i dont know how i will come off if ran over something... i probably only have a few inches of clearance. I may end up changing the scoop slightly.

hope this helps anyone trying to find somewhere to fit theirs.

Please, if you could add your comments on here too, it would be much appreciated (positive or negative). As i said at the beginning, i wasnt able to find anywhere about mounting coolers, what it looked like when fitted or what can be classified as a 'scoop'. So i have no idea if this is what has been done in the past etc...

Peace!

I wouldn't bother with the little flap thats hanging down, the fan should cope well enough as it is

yer that scoop is going to rip of and damage your fan and cooler mate remove it i would

I will be running a 2332 blown motor so could do with as much flow through the cooler as possible. I also plan on doing alot of european trips during the hot summer months so I want to ensure max cooling.

I was worried that the speed of the air passing over the cooler at 80mph wouldn't be able to be sucked through, hence the scoop. Also a few people have already advised me to do this. It's all removable anyway. And it doesn't mount to the cooler itself, it just fits to the bracket. Worst comes worst, the bracket will catch and fold backwards anyway.

I was going to run it with and without and see what difference it makes first. Will be interesting to see the effect on oil temp.

Thanks for the feedback though, I am worried about catching it so I will only be putting it on if I need to

Peace!

A slimmer full length scoop would work better if you deem one nescassary (covering the length of the cooler), with a narrow opening up close to the belly pans scooping up the air flowing over them

Neat way of mounting it in the space, but the cooler won't be in much of a direct air flow so effeciency will be down / fan will run more often.

But not a lot of choice as the van is low it needs to be up there to protect it.

I fitted mine above the belly pans, then scooped the belly pans to force air through the cooler. Your scoop design won't do much as the air will go the easiest route which for most of the air won't be through the cooler.

I didn't want to block the whole cooler off with a flap as this would only restrict the air when I'm stuck in traffic. Plus, as long as the scoop is able to produce positive pressure under the cooler, it will aid it.

I don't know how i would have gotten off at the next MOT if I had cut the belly pans either. Being a structural part of the bus. Cool solution tho if I could get away with it. How did you duct the hot air back out? And did you take the oil lines through the chassis or under it? Would be good to see some photos if you have any.

Like I said before, there are very few photos of peoples installations on here to get an idea of what to do.

Peace!

zippy wrote:A slimmer full length scoop would work better if you deem one nescassary (covering the length of the cooler), with a narrow opening up close to the belly pans scooping up the air flowing over them

What system are you running in your van zippy? Have you got a cooler and scoop? Where have you mounted yours?

Peace!

I've got mine in the same position but tilted down at the back so face of cooler (~20° tilt) is in the the air flow, never needed the fan so took it off as a waste of time...

I'm writing this reply on my IPhone so appoligies if I'm missing something that I can't see in a small picture.
First off, take off the silly scoop before it goes through your cooler and wrecks your new engine! It will at some point!
Secondly, I like the way you've done the install it is very neat but to be of any use the cooler needs to see air, hence the 20 degree mount above.
Does your fan suck or blow? Sounds a bit pervy but does it suck air from underneath the car or blow air down onto the road?
If it sucks up then you need to mount the cooler at an angle, but if it blows down then you could fabricate a shallow air scoop in front of the cooler to duct air over the top of the frame to provide cool air to the fan side of the cooler. Just a couple of inches of scoop over the width of the cooler will give your engine all the air it needs!

Most fans can suck or blow, just switch the wires as appropriate. Some of the fans blades are directional, and if they are you simply reverse the fitting.

lucky wrote:I'm writing this reply on my IPhone so appoligies if I'm missing something that I can't see in a small picture.
First off, take off the silly scoop before it goes through your cooler and wrecks your new engine! It will at some point!
Secondly, I like the way you've done the install it is very neat but to be of any use the cooler needs to see air, hence the 20 degree mount above.
Does your fan suck or blow? Sounds a bit pervy but does it suck air from underneath the car or blow air down onto the road?
If it sucks up then you need to mount the cooler at an angle, but if it blows down then you could fabricate a shallow air scoop in front of the cooler to duct air over the top of the frame to provide cool air to the fan side of the cooler. Just a couple of inches of scoop over the width of the cooler will give your engine all the air it needs!

Thanks... This is really helpful.

I was planning on sucking. Using the scoop to force air through it at higher speeds. I don't want to hang the cooler at and angle as it will only hit the ground or road kill instead of a scoop.

I like the idea of blowing the air done to the road, using a scoop (away from the cooler) to duct air into the fan area. Therefore, removing the risk of damage to the cooler, and also supplying a fresh air feed.

I think for now, I will remove the scoop, use a blow instead of suck technique and see what it performs like. If I need to, I could always add a scoop to supply cooler air if I need too

Thanks again lucky... Quality ideas

Peace!

That will probably work best for yours, as fans / pumps etc generally work best in blow rather than suck, so pulling air from free space and forcing through a restriction, ie cooler, the effeciency is likely to be better. Though the difference may be a marginal thing.

PS that's a 72 row cooler isn't it?

Yeah, 72 row.

They do say they can suck or blow.

But like you say, if it's sucking from the free air around the box and blowing it out. Even the air rushing over the cooler may help suck the air through too.

Rather than trying to suck air through that's passing over it at 80mph. I should imagine it would jaw struggled to do that... Hence the need for a scoop